live team coverage of the boston marathon from bombing -- from boston to russia. washington, d.c. we're going to do it like only cnn can do it. also we have another developing story. the man accused of sending ricin laced letters to the president, he's been release d and he clais he was set up. in this special edition of starting point live from boston begins right now. good morning, everyone, as the sun rises over boston it is the start of a new day. for the first time since the bombings here, boylston street is back open again as bostonians work to move forward, and return to sort of a normal lifestyle. meantime, we have important new developments unfolding right now in the bombing investigation. a delegation from the u.s. embassy in moscow arriving in dagestan, doing that with the

cooperation of the russian government to interview the parents of terror suspects tamerlan and dzhokhar tsarnaev. the condition of the surviving brother has been upgraded overnight from serious to fair condition, and he may soon be moved out of beth israel medical center to a different facility. and as i mentioned, businesses are reopening to the public, and everyone making their way back onto boylston street. we're going to be talking to store owners about their expectations as the city gets back up and moving again. we begin with new details this morning about what may have been the motivation behind the boston marathon bombings. that as we're getting our first look at the scene of the actual explosion. you look at it right there. i was walking on it just a short while ago. workers spent the night filling in the hole where the blast went off, literally putting a new surface on the sidewalk. miguel marquez is live in boston, on the corner of boylston street with the latest. good morning, miguel. >> good morning, john. we're at boylston and dartmouth streets, and right behind me you

can see that's the finish line about a block away. this bus here on the bus, we are one boston. you see boston strong. those are the things everywhere. we did shoot some video overnight of them repairing that street, as well, the bricks going in, the cement going in. one very nice thing, though, the window blown out at that first bombing site, boston strong. and it does give you a nice sense of the place. as we are learning more about the bombing plot from the aftermath. new pictures of the confrontation between the tsarnaev brothers and police in watertown. in one of them, taken by witness andrew kitzenberg we see the brothers firing at officers. hours later -- the final standoff between authorities and the younger brother, dzhokhar when david henneberry climbed up a ladder to look inside his normally shrink wrapped boat. first he saw blood inside of it, then a body. >> my eyes went to the other side of the engine box.

the engine box is in the middle -- there's a body. >> reporter: dzhokhar tsarnaev already bleeding before the final shoot-out and surrender. the city on high alert, and henneberry knew he just might be the man police were looking for. and we are learning more, if it can be believed, about what dzhokhar tsarnaev is telling investigators, that the wars in iraq and afghanistan motivated the plot. his claim, there was no outside encouragement, radicalization, or communication that he and his older brother tamerlan were fueled by online jihadist videos. and investigators say he may have consulted al qaeda's english magazine "inspire" for help in building their bombs. investigators also taking a look at an unsolved triple murder from 2011 to determine if tamerlan tsarnaev had anything to do with it. one of the victims a friend and sparring partner of tamerlan was found dead along with two

others, all had their throat cut. such horrible details, as boston continues to recover, and the victims of the attacks are laid to rest. two private ceremonies tuesday for 26-year-old m.i.t. police officer sean collier, for the youngest victim, 8-year-old martin richard. now this is the memorial that has been gathered from around all of boylston street. i want to show you this, there's a lot of shoes being hung along the route here on the sign boston strong, all the hats that either runners or others who have come by here have left. i want to show you a bit more of this. you come around this way, these volunteers have been here all morning long taking care of all of the flowers, and the stuff that's being dropped off here. but they've literally brought this from all along boylston street where it was closed, to this area in copley square so that people can come by and they are coming by in the dozens so far this morning to stop and reflect. john?

>> thanks so much, miguel. it's so great to see all the people out here on the streets and all the cars driving on boylston street. again, for the first i'm in nine days. it truly is a wonderful sight. our thanks to miguel. new this morning, delegates from the united states embassy in moscow are now in dagestan to interview the parents of tamerlan and dzhokhar tsarnaev. the u.s. delegation is making the trip in full cooperation with the russian government, which is also aiding the fbi with this investigation. cnn's phil black is live in moscow with the details. good morning, phil. >> good morning, john. the u.s. embassy sent a team from here in moscow to dagestan late yesterday. now the team in dagestan believes they are now currently interviewing the parents of the two bombing suspects in a russian government building. specifically belonging to the fsc, the russian security service here within the country itself. this is important because this is the first time russian officials have had the chance to

quiz the suspects' parents but also to ask them some pretty important questions like what did their elder son, tamerlan tsarnaev get up to, who did he meet, where did he go, when he visited them here in dagestan in the first half of 2012? because one theory is that it was during his time here, during his exposure to people, to this particularly violent region, he may have been radicalized and ultimately that could have contributed to his actions, to his behavior, to his thinking and those events in boston. john? >> all right phil black, thank you so much. again the key here is that the russian government, and the u.s. government, the intelligence agencies, cooperating in this questioning. new developments this morning in the fbi's handling of the marathon bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev prior to the attack. the feds revealing that russian authorities repeatedly reached out about their concerns that tsarnaev may have been radicalized. so the question is, why wasn't he followed more closely? cnn's joe johns is live in

washington with that part of the story. joe, what's going on with this? >> good morning, john. the federal government gets thousands of tips from foreign governments to check people out. but, in the case of tamerlan tsarnaev, the question now being asked, is whether the feds had enough information to do more than they did in the two years before the boston bombing. tamerlan tsarnaev first hit the fbi's radar in 2011 when the russian government told the agency they should check him out. >> the russian fsc sent a letter to the fbi and other agencies that we think this guy has become radical, you need to watch him. >> reporter: an fbi statement said the request from russia was based on information that he was a follower of radical islam and a strong believer, that he had changed drastically since 2010, as he prepared to leave the united states for travel to the country's region to join unspecified underground groups. the fbi said it checks u.s. government databases, telephone communications, online activity,

and also actually interviewed tamerlan tsarnaev and family members. but the fbi says it did not find any terrorism activity so it gave that information to russia and asked for but did not receive specific or additional info. case closed. >> because additional information didn't come in, then the fbi says well, for our purposes, under our system and with all the records and investigation we're allowed to do here, it hasn't risen to the level to warrant further investigation, or full-time surveillance. >> reporter: a federal law enforcement official agrees and said tamerlan was not on a terror watch list or any no-fly list, because the u.s. never deemed him a threat. so there were no alarm bells when tsarnaev came back to the u.s. six months later. >> by the time he returned, all investigation had been -- the matter had been closed. >> reporter: but even so, it's not clear if the department of homeland security, which is charged with monitoring travel, even knew that tsarnaev was on the fbi's radar.

feds failing to talk to each other was supposed to be a lesson learned from 9/11. >> we're trying to make sure that all of that information that was available was shared, if it wasn't, then there may be somebody who dropped the ball. >> and that's the take away. much of the concern right now in washington is about the shadow of 9/11, and if the national security system has to relearn those lessons. john? >> all right, joe johns in washington for us on the investigation. thanks so much, joe. i should say the uncle for the tsarnaev brothers has his own theory about how this all started. he says he believes that tamerlan's self-radicalization didn't start during his time in dagestan but he says it began here in the u.s. right across the river in cambridge, massachusetts. he says that a friend from 2009, in his words, brainwashed tamerlan. listen. >> there's a person from some

new convert into islam from armenian descent. armenians have no intention to say anything about armenians, it's a neighboring region with north caucasus. i said this person just took his brain, just brainwashed him completely. tamerlan is off now, there's no any obedience and respect to his own father. >> turn now to congressman, chairman of the house judiciary committee from virginia, he attended yesterday's fbi briefing on the boston bombings. congressman, thank you so much for joining us this morning. let me first ask you about two pieces of information that we just heard. first, about this armenian figure known as misha. that the uncle to the tsarnaev brothers saying influenced tamerlan somehow over the years. is that something some information that was included in your intelligence briefings that have you heard anything about this mysterious figure? >> this is -- this is new

information, and it's important that we have the appropriate aauthorties check that out. obvio obviously if there are people fomenting this type of activity in the united states we want to know who they are and hold them accountable where it's possible to do so. >> now i'll ask you about another thing we're hearing from senator richard byrd, the boston globe is quoting him as saying russia contacted the fbi, not just once, but repeatedly, perhaps, about tamerlan tsarnaev and their concerns about him. so there wasn't just that one point of contact but they came back and asked about him again. are you hearing that? >> we are hearing that. and we're also hearing that the department of homeland security had different information than the fbi. they were not apparently sharing that information. so the fbi, according to what we now understand, did not know that he was in russia for six months. and did not follow up on his return.

so all of these things lead to more questions about what needs to be done to make sure that these types of things don't happen in the future. and most importantly what kind of information sharing and follow-through all of our law enforcement agencies are exercising. but let's also say at the same time that the fbi and local law enforcement did a great job in tracking these guys down, and bringing them to justice after the event occurred. that's very important. but it's even more important, in my opinion, to whenever possible prevent these things. they've had some successes in the past with the christmas bomber, for example, in intercepting them and preventing them from occurring in advance. but this one got through, and we need to know more about it. our committee and other committees here in the house will definitely be following through to find out what happened, and what can be done to improve on communications between homeland security, the fbi, and other enforcement agencies.

>> mr. chairman, help me understand this, if the russians did reach out to the fbi more than once, is that something that's routine or is that out of the ordinary? >> well, i don't know. certainly, it is an improvement in our relations with the russians that they are reaching out and sharing information like this with us. we need to follow through with them. we hear that the fbi asked for more information, did not get more information with specifics about why they were concerned about this individual. so that obviously needs to be ascertained, as well. it's important what's going on in russia today, in terms of finding out what we can. but it's also important that we continue to encourage other countries to share this type of information with us, and then follow through on it completely and make sure it's shared amongst everyone who has some information about the individual that apparently was not done in this case. so that's a serious concern for us here in the congress.

>> so many questions right now. congressman bob goodlatte, thank you so much for joining us this morning. appreciate it, sir. >> thank you, john. >> let's turn now to our national security analyst, fran townsend, former homeland security adviser to president george w. bush. thanks so much for being with us this morning, fran. let me start with this news that was just confirmed by chairman goodlatte about the repeated contact, not just one, but the russian government reaching out to the fbi more than once about tamerlan tsarnaev in 2011. that sounds unusual. >> it's unusual, john, but i think we need to put it in context. look, the russian government's not the only government sending these sorts of leads to the fbi. and the fbi triages them. it takes all those referrals seriously. but you look at a group, it's a chechen related referral. chechnya was not -- those rebels were not known to target the united states. they target the russian government, and russian authorities, and not the u.s. wouldn't be perceived, at least,

as a direct threat here to anything inside the united states. and so even if they -- even if that was unusual, the level of priority it might have been given you have to know the detail of the information with each contact that the russians made in reaching out. was there something specific that the fbi could do to follow up? and then you have to understand that inside the u.s. system there are guidelines in terms of that the fbi works under, their domestic investigation guidelines about what investigative steps they can take, and the basis for each step along the way. and so, all those things play a role here. what i find more disturbing is the information sharing issue. you know, in joe johns' piece he talked about learning the lessons of 9/11. but there's frankly a more recent lesson during the obama administration of abu mu tal an the underwear bomber. remember there was lead information there inside the system at the state department and at the cia and that didn't get shared. even in the current administration we've seen, you

know, an instance where this sort of counter -- important counterterrorism information is not adequately shared or followed up. >> important context there. fran townsend, thanks so much. let me ask you to give context on one other thing we are hearing in these reports. we heard sound from the uncle to the tsarnaev brothers, one of the uncles who brings up the possible of a character, a man named misha who may have influenced tamerlan, may have been a mentor to him somehow dealing with muslim issues right now. put this in context. is this something that authorities will follow up on? are you hearing that this is something they're concerned about? or is this something that may or may not be that reliable? >> well, there's no question that federal authorities will follow up. they will try to individual misha. they will try to interview him. they will want to vied sort of his network. if there's a particular mosque he's associated with. the people who have heard him preach. but we have to remember they'll take that very seriously. they'll try to see what influence he had. but, here in the united states,

everyone's got a first amendment, a constitutional freedom of speech. what he may say, what he may advocate is abhorrent but the fbi will have to work within the rule of law, within the guidelines and respecting the constitution, in understanding and putting into context this, you know, this unknown misha's role in terms of brainwashing and inspiring tamerlan. >> all right fran townsend, thank you so much for joining us this morning. appreciate the context. this is what's happening today. elsewhere in boston and the latest on these investigations. at noon, vice president biden and his wife will attend a service for sean collier. he is the m.i.t. officer killed during the manhunt for the suspects. and later this afternoon the house intelligence committee will receive a full briefing on the terror attack. and still ahead, a call to move the surviving suspects. bombing victims upset that he's in the same hospital they are. we're going to talk to our sanjay gupta just ahead. plus former u.s. attorney general alberto gonzales joins

us to talk about how the feds will tackle this case. he's got unique insight into that. then a surprising development, the man accused of sending poison laced letters to president obama, he's been released. who police are looking at next. you're watching "starting point." we went out and asked people a simple question: how old is the oldest person you've known? we gave people a sticker and had them show us.

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point." i'm christine romans. we're following new developments in the case of those ricin tainted letters sent to president obama and two other officials. charges against one-time suspect paul kevin curtis, those charges have now been dropped. u.s. attorney handling this case now says new information has come to light. cnn's victor blackwell is live for us this morning in tupelo, mississippi. this man has been exonerated, vindicated? >> that's true. we're waiting for more information from the u.s. attorney, felicia adams, about what this new information is. she has not elaborated. of course we've asked the fbi about their investigation up to this point into the letters sent to the president. senator roger wicker of mississippi, and katie holland, a judge here in tupelo. they're not saying much about that or their investigation into curtis. but curtis himself, paul kevin kurt isz, is speaking. and he's saying that he had no involvement. he loves his country.

he had nothing to say specifically about the letters, he says that he loves his country, he respects the president, he would never try to hurt an elected official. he also said, he and his attorney, that he believes that he maybe was framed by someone who's holding a grudge. i want you to listen to what he said about the time he spent in jail after those allegations were made. >> the last seven days, staring at four gray walls like green green grass of home, not really knowing what's happening, not having a clue why i'm there, just being in a state of overwhelm is the best way i can describe it. when you've been charged with something, and you just -- you've never heard of ricin or whatever. i thought they said rice so i said, i don't even eat rice. >> the day started for curtis by bonding out on $25,000 to get out of jail and then the charges were dropped. so now, he's out, and cleared. the question is, who sent the letters?

well, the fbi, again, isn't saying much. but we know that there are media reports that a second home is being searched in connection with this case. and we're, of course, working to get more information about that. >> so a mystery still. victor blackwell, thanks, in tupelo. it was the tweet heard round the world, or at least heard round wall street. we're going to tell you how a hacked twitter account sent markets into a dive. and what traders did when they found out it was fake. you're watching "starting point."

25 minutes after the hour. new this morning, rescue workers digging prafrantically to rescu people caught in the collapse of a commercial building near the capital of bangladesh. at least 70 people have been killed, more than 700 injured. no word yet on the cause. new allegations secretary of state hillary clinton personally signed off on cuts in security at the benghazi consulate prior to last year's deadly terror attack there. house republican leaders citing that information in a report released yesterday. u.s. ambassador christopher stevens and three other americans were killed in that september 11th attack on the consulate. clinton has said in the past

security threats related to benghazi were handled by others. more trouble for disgraced cyclist lance armstrong this morning. millions more. the justice department now suing him trying to collect some of the $17 million the u.s. postal service paid him during their endorsement. the suit claims armstrong violated his contract when he admitted using performance enhancing drugs while winning seven tour de france titles. "minding your business" this morning stock futures pointing higher. yesterday's rally came despite a wild 145-point drop in the middle of the day. that's when hackers sent a tweet from the associated press that there had been an explosion, there wasn't. markets recovered. but it shows you just how vulnerable the market is to fake social media. keep an eye on apple today by the way. the stock has turned lower in premarket trading. profits slipped last quarter. customers were buying older model iphones and the ipad mini, which makes less money for apple. apple also raising its dividends so apple shareholders will get a little bit of a payback if they

hold the stock. john, back to you in boston. >> all right, thanks so much, christine. next, we just have an incredible story to tell you about. the hero who found the surviving boston bombing suspect. he will tell you how it all went down. and reports that dzhokhar tsarnaev is doing better this morning and there are demands that he be moved. dr. sanjay gupta joins us. as does former u.s. attorney general alberto gonzales. he has crucial insight into this. you're watching a special edition of "starting point" live from boston.

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welcome back to boston, everyone. at this hour a delegation from the u.s. embassy in moscow is in dagestan trying to meet with the parents of tamerlan and dzhokhar tsarnaev. they're doing that with the cooperation of the russian government. also, here this morning, it is a

proud morning for bostonians. behind me, boylston street, which was the site of the marathon bombings, been a crime scene for nine days. it is open to the public this morning. work crews were on the scene deep into the night. they were cleaning up the streets, resurfacing the area where that first bomb went off so that police could really hand over the heart of the city back to its people. i had a chance for a little predawn walk on boylston street. listen. this is the site of the first explosion. the first bomb went off right here at 2:50 p.m. on marathon monday. they're filling it in right now so it's all closed off before the streets really open to the public this morning. let me show you something. look at this building. marathon sports. the fourth floor, all the way up to the fourth floor here, they have windows boarded up. those were shattered by the force of the blast. >> i should also tell you that on the ground this morning there were already flowers near the site of that first blast. now we know how the tsarnaev

brothers allegedly built their bomb. a new hampshire fireworks shop confirms that tamerlan tsarnaev bought products containing about three pounds of black gun powder. he did that two months ago after asking the clerk for the biggest and loudest kit in the store. he did that in new hampshire, a few miles north of here. and happening later today a memorial here in boston for one of the victims. at noon vice president joe biden will attend a service for sean collier, the m.i.t. officer killed during the manhunt for the suspect. meanwhile later this afternoon the house intelligence committee will receive a full receiving on the terror attack. and this morning we are hearing for the first time from the man who found the surviving boston marathon bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev. he was discovered hiding in david henneberry's boat, and he's talking to cnn affiliate wcvv's ed harding. >> this boat is -- >> my baby. >> the slipaway 2 was in dave henneberry's backyard as it always is in the winter.

did you see anything unusual about the boat? >> well, i put pads in between the -- the shrink wrap. >> right. >> it's called the belly strap. i put roller pads, you know, rollers in there, and it stops the chafing. and two of those had fallen down to the ground. >> at the time he didn't think twice about it. and when word came to resume normal activity -- so at that point in time what do you decide to do? >> go out. get some air. you know, and i said i'm just going to go put the pads back. >> they were bugging him. so he went to the backyard to investigate the pads. >> no indication of anything, i know people say it's blood on the boat. if you saw blood and you went in. not -- >> not true? >> not true. >> now the word is you saw the boat, you pulled back the wrappings, you saw a body, it moved and you called 911. >> oh, no, no, no. >> no? >> no, no, no. >> so he went to the garage and grabbed a stepladder.

>> i got i think three steps up the ladder, and i rolled it up and i can see through now the shrink wrap, i didn't expect to see anything. and i look in the boat over here, on the floor, and i see blood. and -- >> a lot of blood? >> a good amount of blood. >> yeah. >> and i said, wow, did i cut myself last time i was in the boat a couple weeks ago and forget? no. you know. no. then i just looked over there, and there's more blood on the floor. and i looked back and forth to those two spaces a couple times and my eyes went to the other side of the engine box. the engine box is in the middle. >> there was a body. >> and at that moment, what did you do? what were you thinking at that moment? >> oh, my god. >> he couldn't see suspect number two's face. he was glad he couldn't see his face. >> well, i know i took three

steps up the ladder. i don't remember stepping down off the ladder. i think i just -- >> and then you run in the house. >> yeah. >> and immediately call 911? >> and told them there's a body in the boat. and when he got off the phone, he went right back outside. >> it hits you more afterwards when you think my god he probably spent last night. this guy could be -- you know, i don't know, it just -- it's surreal. >> in that instant, police responded and he and his wife were taken away. people are calling you a national hero, you know that? >> incidental hero. i wasn't out on the prowl. i was out to see my boat and i stumbled across the suspect. that's, you know -- >> but you -- you've contacted everyone, you did the right steps. and it reached a successful conclusion. >> it did do that. i guess it did do that. i'm glad -- i'm just glad -- i

hate to use cliches, words, but people got killed can get some -- whoo. >> you know, in many ways, they do. >> you know. >> what an amazing story. what an amazing story. this morning, suspected bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev's condition is said to be improving. he's been upgraded from serious to fair condition. he still could be moved out of beth israel deaconess medical center to another facility. dr. sanjay gupta is with us today. he is back in new york. sanjay, we hear fair condition. what exactly does that mean? >> you know, these terms can be a little bit subjective, john. but basically what it means is that the vital signs that they've been monitoring for him are stable, and they're staying

stable. when someone is in serious condition he may have vital stable signs but you still worry that they may become unstable sometimes. the patient is typically in the intensive care unit. in more of a lay perspective it sort of means that look, the injury that he sustained no longer considered life threatening. it's not to say that doctors still don't worry about things like infection, and the rest of his hospitalization. but it's sort of out of the woods from those initial injuries, john. >> we're also hearing, sanjay, that he may be moved soon to a different hospital in the area. does that indicate to you, again, that his condition may be improving? >> yeah. absolutely. you know, one of the things that you sort of think about if this were a situation that didn't involve an investigation, typically a patient like this might be able to be discharged to some sort of rehab facility, or even to home within the next several days. so, certainly, you know, the situation is different here. but you wouldn't do that, you wouldn't take them out of the acute care center no matter the

situation, unless you felt that they were stable enough to do that. not only to be in the new setting, but also for the transfer. they had to actually move the patient from one place to the other. >> and of course one of the reasons also that he may be moved is right now in beth israel there are victims still there. victims of these attacks who are still being treated. we understand that some of the families there are upset that the suspect and the victims are being treated in the same hospital. this has got to create a very difficult situation for the medical personnel there, sanjay. >> you know, it's a -- this is obviously a very unique situation. but oftentimes this sort of thing happens in big, urban city hospitals. where you do have both the victim and the alleged perpetrator of a crime in the same hospital. you know, hospital i work, atlanta county hospital, that happens, and the system is often set up to be able to handle that. keep people in separate places, the medical staff doing their job as physicians, nurses, health care professionals. so it's -- yeah, i think it's a

psychological one, no question. and again, john, this is a wholly unique one in that regard. but i think from the medical staff themselves, they take care of the patients and oftentimes they don't even have any interaction, even with the medical staff treating the other patients. john? >> got to do your job one way or the other. dr. sanjay gupta, thank you so much for being with us this morning. really appreciate it. we want to bring in former u.s. attorney general alberto gonzales. he had such key insight into this, obviously worked as a key figure in the bush administration. he's now an attorney in nashville, tennessee. thank you so much for being with us, sir. >> good morning. >> let me start off by asking you about an issue of should this man be treated as enemy combatant. the white house has been adamant that dzhokhar tsarnaev, the 19-year-old suspect, will be tried as in the federal court system, not as an enemy combatant. do you support that decision? >> well, from my perspective, the key is what is the best way

for the u.s. government to bring this person to justice? and also to bring information which may help us prevent additional attacks in the future, and provide some level of closure. provide answers that provide some level of closures to the family. and so apparently the white house department of justice made a calculation that they can achieve both of these objectives by trying in our criminal court. there are some complications if he's designated an enemy combatant for example that is going to be challenged by the suspect's lawyers which will force the government to perhaps show its hand in showing why they believe he's an enemy combatant and they don't want to do that. they don't want to do anything that may complicate a subsequent trial on the merits. so for a variety of reasons i think this makes sense. >> what advantages would they have, though, or would they have had had they gone the enemy combatant route in terms of the investigation? >> well, the obvious advantage is the ability hopefully to

gather more information. now, i say hopefully more information. it is possible that even in the criminal justice system that this individual is cooperating and providing information. and also through the criminal process, you often have a situation where the suspect, in exchange for a more lenient sentence may be more cooperative in sharing information. so the information that we desperately seek in this particular case may be obtainable through the criminal justice system. so i think the presumption is that it's easier, you have more time to gather information if you designate someone as an enemy combatant. >> you worked for so many years during the bush years trying to learn the lessons from september 11th and implement the changes from those lessons. i know we're in the early stages here, but what do you think the lessons are from the boston marathon bombings? >> well, that we are safer today than we were on 9/11. but we're not safe yet.

i think many of us who worked in the bush administration, we've gone around the country sort of telling people that, you know, that america is safer but we're not yet safe. i've always believed that it was never a question of if there would be another attack. it was a question of when would there be another attack. and we've done a lot. the government has done a lot. congress has given the government additional tools to protect america. but we have to be lucky and we have been lucky. obviously the law enforcement has done a tremendous job in protecting america. a tremendous job in apprehending this particular suspect. but we still have some very serious challenges in the world, and when you live in a country that cherishes our freedom so much in an open society, it presents very difficult challenges for both law enforcement and our intelligence capabilities, but again, we have to move forward. hopefully america can live life as normally as possible. but we have to be vigilant about the challenges that exist against the united states. >> former attorney general

alberto gonzales. thank you so much for joining us this morning. appreciate your insight, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> let's get to christine romans in new york with the rest of the top stories. >> hi, john. we're keeping an eye this morning on a court hearing today in canada in the alleged terrorist plot to attack a pass edger train running between new york and toronto. canadian authorities say al qaeda is behind that plot. two suspects are being held without bail. one is due in court in just a couple of hours. his alleged accomplice had a hearing yesterday. dangerous flooding turns deadly in the middle of the country. here swollen rivers are already to blame for four deaths. governor jay nixon declaring state of emergency in missouri after flash flooding drenched many parts of that state. according to the national weather service rivers in illinois, missouri, iowa, indiana, north dakota, mississippi and michigan all in danger of flooding, even more rain, some snow even expected in that region today. a multimillion dollar settlement for two women injured during the manhunt for ex-cop

christopher dorner back in february. the city of los angeles has agreed to play the women $4.2 million. they were delivering newspapers when the lapd mistakenly fired on them while they were inside their truck. hernandez was shot twice in the back. coronza was injured by broken glass. the l."l.a. times" reporting th morning both have recovered. john, back to you. >> all right, thanks so much, christine. ahead on "starting point," as we continue to explore the boston marathon bombing investigation, could the tsarnaev brothers really become so radicalized, just on their own, just from watching videos? former cia director ambassador james woolsey joins us live. you are watching "starting point." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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welcome back to "starting point," everyone. live here from boston, behind me what was the crime scene, boylston street, now open for business for the first time. since the bombings. this morning investigators are looking into tamerlan tsarnaev's online influence, asking a lot of questions, including whether an al qaeda in yemen website

helped him to build the bombing. here's cnn's david mattingly. >> reporter: i-witness photographs capture the violent street shoot-out and the last moments of a desperate and dangerous tamerlan tsarnaev. a federal law enforcement source tells cnn tsarnaev's own brother conveyed to investigators he was not only the mastermind behind the boston bombings, but he was motivated by a jihadist call for retaliation for so-called attacks on islam. a self-made radical, with a wealth of information at his fingertips. >> estimate there are over 8,000 websites that are -- that have very extremist radical ideology. >> reporter: 8,000? >> over 8,000 websites. >> reporter: she studies the reach and impact of online jihadist sites. how many of these offer explanations or instructions on how to build weapons? >> some of them do. >> reporter: a senior administration official says investigators are trying to determine if the online "inspire" magazine, published by al qaeda in yemen, could be one

of the sites possibly providing the blueprint for the bomb tsarnaev used. but there are doubts that tsarnaev could have built the devices successfully without some kind of training. >> the fact that five of his bombs went off is an extraordinary piece of luck, or he knew what he was doing. i don't see any middle way. >> reporter: cnn analyst bob baer believes tsarnaev could have had personal contact and training with jihadists when he visited his parents in russia early last year. social media may provide a clue. after returning to the u.s., a video of an islamic militant know as abu dujana was posted and then removed from tsarnaev's youtube channel. >> listened to somebody there, maybe got some sort of training, or at least watched people build this stuff. something, there's something we're missing. i just have an uneasy feeling about it. but, not having the facts, i can't, you know, assure you 100%. >> reporter: a u.s. government official tells cnn tsarnaev's brother claims they had no

contact with any foreign terrorist organization. an onlean preachings of anwar al awlaki were a likely influence. but as hard answers behind his krad were likely an influence. there is no doubt in tsavraev's ability to conceal his sinister plan to those closest to him. his parents and even his wife. >> the reports of his involvement came as a shock to them all. >> reporter: david mattingly, cnn boston. >> our thanks to david mattingly for that. the older brother, tamerlan, tsavraev, was increasingly radicalized and may have influenced by a friend. the surviving brother told investigators the two acted alone with no outside assistance or in influence through foreign groups. joining us from washington is former cia director and chair of the foundation for defense of democracy, ambassador r. james

wolsly. thank you so much for being with us. >> good to be with you. >> one of the things we are hearing, the younger brother, dzhokhar tsavraev is telling investigators, not sure if we should believe him or not, that the brothers became self-radical ice e self-radicalized here in the united states by watching online videos. does that seem reasonable to you? >> yes, largely. seemed to be what happened to major hasan who killed 13 fellow soldiers in ft. hood a couple of years ago. it seemed to be what happened to the underwear bomber, who was only caught by alert passengers and crew on an aircraft after his father went to the state department and said my son is extremely radical, watch him. we don't look very good in terms of one part of the u.s. government talking to another.

the people who looked the best in the last few days is the mounties in canada. they kept track of these two guys for two years, and were able to arrest them before they blew up a train between toronto and new york. >> if it's as simple as being radicalized by watching online videos, how do you police that? stop from thaw from taking place in another city in another few months? >> well, i think one has to -- as much as they had in this case, the russians came to them with information about it, and what they did, conducted an interview, asked if he was a terrorist. they said no, and they said, okay and closed the case. if they stayed with it, they might have seen they bought pyrotechnics, black powder, fireworks that they apparently used in the bombs, they might

have seen his -- something about what he was doing on the web, what he was watching. they would have known about his trip to russia. but the department of homeland security apparently didn't talk to the fbi and the cia, and the fbi never got a foreign intelligence surveillance act, a warrant, which seemed to me would be one possibility this is a case of government agencies not working together and not even communicating with one another. >> so many years after september 11th now, with concern about agencies communicating with each other and we hear about possible communication problems. what does that say to you? >> there was a directive from the justice department in the clinton administration that made it hard for one part of the fbi to talk to another, much less the cia and fbi to talk to one another. some of those things got straightened out after 9/11 and

people thought by establishing a director of national intelligence, it would oversee all intelligence in the country. a job held by john clapper, but here we have agencies that aren't part of the intelligence community. the fbi, partially a little bit sometimes. department of homeland security, not. and i don't know. it makes one wish we could go down to new york and draft ray kelly to come run all of this stuff for us in washington. he's doing a terrific job in new york. >> take this as a nomination, sir. thank you so much for being us with. ambassador, really appreciate it. >> good to be with you. >> "starting point" live from boston, we'll be back in just a moment. stay with us. this is america.

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ahead on "starting point," the latest from here in boston. the latest on the investigation and tell you about the city of boston, back on its feet. boylston street, the site of the marathon bombing, open once again totality public. a full nine days after those bombings. also, a public memorial for slain m.i.t. police officer sean collier. we'll talk to two police officers about this slain officer and get the latest on the investigation. we've reduced taxes and lowered costs to save businesses more than two billion dollars to grow jobs, cut middle class income taxes to the lowest rate in sixty years, and we're creating tax free zones for business startups.

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good morning, everyone. i'm john berman, live in boston this morning. our "starting point," new information this morning about why the accused boston bombing suspect attacked this city and whether or not they had any outside help. all this, as u.s. delegates look for answers in russia this morning. a public farewell for the m.i.t. officer believed killed by the tsavraev brothers. we're talking to his police chief about how they think he died. another developing story. the man accused of sending ricin laced letters to the president has been freed. was he framed? a special edition of "starting point" begins right now. good morning again. for the first time since the boston marathon bombings,

boylston street, right behind me, is open. stores along the marathon route reopening over the next couple of hours, as bostonians move forward and return to some sense of normalcy. meantime, new developments unfolding right now in the bombing investigation, and cnn has it all covered for you. a delegation for the new york embassy in moscow is in dagestan with the parents of tamerlan and dzhokhar tsavraev. the condition of the surviving brother, dzhokhar, upgraded from serious to fair and may be transferred out of the beth israelkcondeconess medical cent. and police reopening boylston street. we were able to walk down the street before. saw store front still boarded up

from the glass shattered from the blast. new details about what may have been the motivation behind the boston marathon bombings. this morning, the first look at the site of the actual explosion. workers, there all night, resurfacing the street where the first bomb went off, so that this morning, it is back completely almost i should say to normal. miguel marquez live on boylston street with the latest. good morning, miguel. >> reporter: good morning, john. the sense of relief is palpable. the old number nine. the city bus on its boston strong. you see that everywhere across the city these days, and the video we saw overnight, repairing the streets, businesses, 671 boylston, 775 boylston, where the bombs went off, one of them, the most lovely signs, was just a big sign of boston strong. all of this as we're learning more about the plot, and the

aftermath. new pictures of the confrontation between the tsavraev brothers and police in watertown. in one of them, taken by witness andrew kitzenberg, you see the brothers firing at officers. hours later, the final standoff between authorities and the younger brother, dzhokhar, when david henneberry looked inside his normally shrink-wrapped boat, he saw blood, and then a body. >> the engine box is in the middle. >> it was a body. >> dzhokhar tsavraev, already bleeding before the final shoot-out and surrender. the city on high alert, henneberry knew it might be the man police were looking for. and alerting more, if it can be believed. dzhokhar is telling investigators that the wars in iraq and afghanistan motivated

the plot. his naclaim, there was no outsi encouragement, radicalization or association that he and his brother tamerlan were fueled by online jihadist videos and investigators say he may have consulted al qaeda's online english magazine "inspire" for help in building bombs. investigators taking a look at an unsolved triple murder from 2011, to determine if tamerlan tsavraev had anything to do with it. one of the victims, a friend and sparring partner of tamerlan's. he was found dead with two others. all with throats cut. such horrible details as boston continues to recover as the victims laid to rest. two private ceremonies tuesday for26-year-old m.i.t. police officer sean collier. for the youngest victim, 8-year-old martin richard. now, the memorial here in boston has been set up here in copley square. everything along boylston has

been brought to this location. a lot of shoes. runners giving shoes off their own feet. i want to show how big this thing is. come around this way. you can see, a lot of flowers, the shirts off people's backs. a lot of hats as well. very touching scene, john. >> a terrific memorial, miguel, and equally terrific scene. everyone out walking on the streets today. even traffic. even traffic on boylston street is nice to see today. you don't often say that in a major city. >> lovely. >> who knew? miguel marquez, thank you. new this morning, delegates at the u.s. embassy in moscow are in dagestan to interview the parents of dzhokhar and tamerlan tsavraev. they are making the trip in full cooperation with the russian government, who is assisting in the fbi investigation. phil black has the latest. good morning, phil. >> reporter: the u.s. embassy sent a team from moscow to dagestan on tuesday. they are on the ground,

interviewing parents of the two bombing suspects. it's significant, the first time u.s. officials had the chance to quiz the suspects's parents and in particular ask them about their eldest son, tamerlan tsavraev. where did he go, who did he see? when he visited them in dagestan in early 2012. we know that he was within russia for some six months, and one theory is, it was during that time, exposure to people, events, this very violent corner of russia, that in some way contributed to his radicalization and ultimately those events that took place in boston. and the suspect's parents had to speak to u.s. officials and tell them what they think of the accusations made against their sons. for some days, they have been maintaining their son's innocence. not capable of what they are accused of and believed they have been set up by u.s. officials. phil black, cnn, moscow. >> and our thanks to phil for

that. we have new developments this morning in the fbi's handling of the marathon bombing suspect, tamerlan tsavraev prior to the attack. russian authorities repeatedly reached out about their concerns of tsavraev may have been radicalized, the question, why wasn't he followed more closely? >> because additional information didn't come in, then the fbi says for our purposes, you were our system and with all the records and investigation we're allowed to do here, it hasn't risen to the level to warrant further investigation or full-time surveillance. >> reporter: so since tsavraev was never deemed a threat no, red flags went up when he returned to the u.s. from abroad. questions still remain about whether or not the department of homeland security and the fbi share such vital information. lessons many say should have been learned from september 11th a lock time ago. senator james ridge, republican from idaho. a member of the senate

intelligence committee, who attended a briefing yesterday. thank you for being us with. let's ask you the question about the contact between the russian intelligence service and the fbi. up until now, we were told they reached out once, but now we learn they reached out repeated tedly from the fbi with concern that tsavraev could be a threat. >> well, the meeting yesterday was more than a briefing, we have actually started the inquiry into how the fbi and how intelligence agencies handled this. and obviously we'll be very interested in what is found out on the ground in dagestan. we know that the individual was there for six months. the russians had contacted our intelligence agencies, we have on the terrorist matters, cooperation and many times good cooperation with the russians, because they -- they feel the same way we do about terrorism so we do exchange information, unfortunately, the information that they gave was much

conclusory as far as details were concerned. there has been criticism of the fbi. the fbi did an investigation based upon the conclusory matters that the russian has given to the united states in that they said he had become radicalized and they did -- they actually interviewed him, interviewed neighbors, relatives. and there were no red flags raised, and i have been around investigations all my life. started as a prosecuting attorney, and i know shoddy work when i see it. this was not shoddy work. they were doing the best they could do with the information they had. but they uncovered absolutely no fact here that raised the matter to a level that this man should get 24-hour surveillance or any of the other things that are available to the fbi to watch them. >> interesting. you said that the quality of intelligence that we received from the russian officials was not so great to begin with let me ask you this. other information we receive in

our reporting, the suspect, tsavraev is indicating that he was radicalized online by watching videos, not with the help or contact with any outside terrorist organizations. based on the briefings that you are hearing, do you believe that still to be the case? >> we're certainly not going to take his word for that. we'll dig a lot deeper into that. having said that, what you saw here was very typical of what we see, from what we call the lone wolf operations. although there were two of them. still following the category of the lone wolf operation. not part of an intricate group of people who were plotting or what have you. so far again. no factual basis to indicate that that was the case. instead, they were online, listening to these radical people talking about what should be done to america and they became self-radicalized, at least from everything we have seen so far. >> the uncle to these brothers

tells cnn, he think there may have been a friend, someone who helped to radicalize him, teached him more radical notions. he may have been an armenian immigrant to the united states. has this figure come up in your intelligence briefings? >> we've heard the same reports obviously. and, in fact, common sense would tell you that if he got it off the internet he probably ran in some circles with people that thought the same way he did. that report wouldn't necessarily be totally off the wall it would certainly fall in with this -- with this self-radicalization and two individuals who got to immerse it with it that kind of things. >> thank you for being us with. really appreciate it. >> thank you. touching moment to tell you

about at one of the hospitals in boston. soldiers who lost limbs fighting in iraq and afghanistan are offering hope to those who lost legs in the marathon bombing attack. this woman lost both legs, he paid her and her 18-year-old daughter a visit at the medical center. >> this is basically the start. this is a new beginning for the both of you. >> i'm telling you, you know, with all my heart, you will be more independent than you ever were. >> celeste is keeping her spiritses high, talking about running the boston marathon here next year. if you would like to help the survivors, go to cnn.com/impact. direct links in all kinds of ways you can help, including the personal fund pages of several of the victims. happening later today, a memorial here in boston for one of the victims.

at noon, vice president joe biden will attend a service for sean collier, the m.i.t. officer killed during the manhunt for the suspects, meanwhile, later on this afternoon, the house intelligence committee will receive a full briefing on the terror attacks and we'll find out what information they learn. coming up, we're talking about that m.i.t. officer sean collier. we have cambridge police chief and m.i.t. police chief about what happened to officer collier and how they want people to remember this remarkable young man. you are watching "starting point" live from boston. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] nothing gets you going quite like the power of quaker oats. today is going to be epic. quaker up.

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in his vehicle, allegedly by the tsavraev brothers. joining us is the m.i.t. police chief and cambridge police chief. chief, you were telling me, only 58 officers on the m.i.t. police force. you must all know each other very, very well. >> that's correct. it's a small department. they are very tight. as one would expect. working together seven days a week. >> and sean collier, a terrific guy. born to be a police officer. born to be part of the community. >> yes. his brother told us yesterday at the funeral mass, he wanted to be a police officer since he was 7 years old. you know, there are numerous reasons why people come on the police department. but i think in his case, he wanted it like it was a vocation or calling. and the way he performed on the department, it definitely was the case. >> at this point, any more details about how he died? reports that the brothers

allegedly ambushed him, trying to get his gun, but couldn't get it. >> that's the subject of an ongoing investigation. >> he was alone at the time? >> he was by himself. >> you are the police chief in cambridge, massachusetts. dealing with the investigation right now. not just what happened in the last week. but what happened before that. what we learned, the fbi questions tamerlan tsavraev as far back as 2011. did you ever get any contact from the federal government or any occasiindication there was n about this individual? >> no, we hadn't had any contact and we would rather focus on officer collier's funeral today and turn to that conversation at another time. >> such a small community. one of the things i was learning, he wanted to be a police officer from the time he was 7 years old. he really integrated himself into that community. >> he was remarkable.

his goal was to create a bond and trust with the students, and he did that. he didn't do it just on the eight-hour shift he would work, he would come in on his own time. a member of the outing club, the ski club. he attended their events, and they accepted him. from the e-mails we have been getting from the student body, they really loved this kid. >> what is the impact over the past several days at m.i.t. and the greater cambridge community? >> we have been full out in the last two weeks, and more so now in the last week. every officer engaged around the clock in a variety of different initiatives. we played a key role in planning the event today. it continues to grow. the size of this is tremendous. there is fully engaged. a lot of the officers can't be there, because they need to be behind the scenes. still security issues. >> work to be done. >> a lot of work to be done. >> how is the campus today? >> i tell you, it's tecueing up

for the event today. and the outpouring is humbling. any doubt where we fit on the campus community, those are out the window. the concern and support is phenomenal. >> there was this mosque in cambridge which is part of the community there tell me, a chance to speak to leader there over the past couple of weeks? >> no. >> all right. thank you for being us with. our thoughts are with you. sean collier, an extraordinary young man. >> thank you very much. >> next on "starting point," a man suspected of sending letters laced with ricin, that man is free. the charges have been dropped, and he tells cnn, he thinks he was framed. we'll tell you about that, next. . little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking.

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good morning. welcome back. i'm christine romans with a look at today's stop sto top stories. at least 70 people killed in wh an eight-story commercial building came down in docka, bangladesh. the mystery over who sent ricin-tainted letters deepens after charges dropped against one-time suspect paul kevin curtis. on "piers morgan live," on the moment curtis realized the situation was very serious. >> i kept thinking this is

serious. it took 24 hours for me to be educated and informed on the actual charge. i heard the word ricin for the first time in my life by a federal agent being interrogated. and i thought he said rice for about an hour. >> the u.s. attorney handling the case says charges were dropped, new information came to light. curtis thinks he was framed and told piers he believes he knows who did it. former secretary of state hillary clinton criticized in a gop report on the dead al tack on the u.s. diplomatic mission in benghazi. that report claims clinton personally signed off on security cuts. a request for beefed-up security was made, but denied. christopher stevens and three other americans were killed in the attack. rutgers has a new head basketball coach, that comes with some serious nba credentials. eddie jordan has been named to

replace mike rice, who was fired last month after video surfaced showing him shoving and verbally abusing players during practice. jordan played college ball at rutgers and served as head coach for the washington wizards, 76ers and the kings. new video of actress reese witherspoon after she was arrested friday for disorderly conduct. after her husband james toth charged with dui. she allegedly shouted at the officer, do you know who i am? witherspoon says "she is deeply embarrassed" and has nothing but respect for police. how did tamerlan tsavraev become a self-made radical? people who knew him are saying this morning and we'll talk to peter king, on the house homeland intelligence committee. you are watching "starting point." [ female announcer ] does your vibrant color

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welcome back to "starting point," live from boston this morning. an american delegation for the u.s. embassy in moscow has arrived in daghestan to interview the parents of tamerlan and dzhokhar tsavraev.

they are getting the full support of the russian government while doing this. that's significant. a major milestone in boston this morning. boylston street, the site of the marathon finish line, officially reopening to the public. we saw work crews working overnight, scrubbing the sidewalks, literally resurfacing the area where the bombs went off. the sidewalks, again, resurfaced, recemented. people back walking the streets this morning. and new developments in the surviving suspect in this case. dzhokhar tsavraev's condition upgraded from critical to serious overnight. and cnn has new information shedding light on how the tsavraev brothers built their bomb. perhaps, a fireworks shop confirms that tamerlan tsavraev bought boxes containing three pounds of black gun powder two months ago after asking the clerk for the biggest and loudest kit in the store.

let's talk more about this now with new york congressman peter king. a member of the house homeland security and intelligence committee. congressman king, thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. >> thank you, john. thank you very much. >> you have been briefed recently by the fbi, by intelligence services here on the investigation. the latest information we have been receiving is that dzhokhar tsavraev, the 19-year-old suspect is saying that he was self-radicalized by watching online videos and had no connection with any outside terrorist groups. is that still the information you are getting? >> that seems to be the story. i don't know how we can accept that. it may end up being the truth. but here is a mass murderer, a person who is fairly -- who can barely speak at all. i don't see why he would be giving up any accomplices he may have or talk about any connections his brother may have had in chechnya or russia, so i think to me, what he is saying is such a small part of the overall picture this is the

vastgativas investigation we want for days, weeks and months, to drill down on contact. you mentioned buying all of the fireworks in the store. where do they keep them during the last several months? did anybody else know about it, anybody ask why they were buying them? so many questions. he says he acted alone, he and his brother acted alone, it's much too early to accept that. >> we should indicate, no one is suggesting that people are taking dzhokhar tsavraev at his word. a suspect accused of mass terror plot here. just what he is saying and investigators are looking into it right now. another piece of information we are getting overnight, based on some briefings, we had been told that the fbi was contacted by russian intelligence service once in 2011, with concerns about tamerlan tsavraev. we are getting occasions it was more than once. repeated contacts. what can you tell us about it, sir? >> it was a real discrepancy.

i got the impression from everything i heard, it was just one contact and the russians didn't follow up, so i'm not sure. i know that mr. burr has referenced a number of contacts. again this is one of the discrepancies we have to drill down on to find out exactly when and how often the russians did reach out. john, i think it goes beyond it may have been a mistake made. that can happen all the time. what we have to look at here is do fbi regulations have to change? for instance, if it's true, that they believe that they could not keep an investigation open, because there was a -- not enough information and the file has to be closed and couldn't be reopened later on, you know, we have to look into that, and the fbi should be looking at this as we have ongoing threats and very seldom we will get a specific piece of information that will tie someone to a threat. always be bits and pieces, so it may well be the fbi's review, the procedures and regulations

are here. and that's a discrepancy about how many contacts there were. no question about that kind of thinking. there are some occasions that dzhokhar tsavraev and his brother, they were followers of anwar al awlaki, and that magazine inspire, was provided an online guide in some cases to build a bomb. simple as watching these online videos, and "inspire" magazine, simple as following that, it may become a domestic or terrorist in the united states. >> and i can tell you, "inspire," we understood that it was written in a very colloquial way and it has had an impact in a number of case, khan and awlaki have been killed, it's

not as effective as it was. believe it or not that one magazine seems to be main recruiter of young muslims in this country for self-radicalizing, we can't stop people from reading what they want to read, saying what they want to say. i think as to how many -- how much scrutiny local police or the fbi going to give to someone when there is other information. the older brother is involved in radical activity from the russians, you find out inspire magazine, plus you find out being inspired by radical bombs. that all needs to be pursued. >> what is the next step, sir, this investigation? >> i would say to follow every possible lead. to follow -- and go to every phone call, every e-mail saying -- go through the hard drives, everyone they have met. talk to all of the family members and what's happening in russia could be promising as far as finding out who the older

brother met with when he was there. what radical on groups he may have met. and also back home here, to find out all the contacts, all of the contacts that these brothers had over the last several weeks, and also we should ask, did the fbi share information with the boston police? should they do more of that in the future? and we'll look at what they heard about the older brother. i was there right now, it's drill down on every aspect involving these two brothers. >> all right, congressman peter king, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> meanwhile, new pictures have surfaced showing the boston bombing suspect, exchanging gunfire with police in watertown, massachusetts. jake tapper spoke with andrew kitzenberg, the man who took those photos. >> as soon as i saw the two shooters and saw that it was gunfire, i ran immediately up the stairs to my bedroom on the third floor, and i also got my camera, right up against the windows and the glass.

continuing to take photos of the shooters and what was happening right in front of my bedroom window. >> did you know that these were the brothers that were wanted? >> not initially. >> i thought it was -- >> i wasn't thinking marathon. i didn't make a separation. when they started using explosives, that's when i knew it was something much more significant and pretty much knew who i was looking at. >> kitzenberg used his iphone to photograph the shoot-out and described live descriptions on his twitter feed. as bullets flew on thursday night, once we saw it and an attempt to keep himself and colleagues alive, drew griffin picks up this incredible story. >> reporter: in a hail of bullets this watertown police suv became the decoy. taking fire, a bullet through the windshield, side and back

windows shotout. and according to the shooter, all part of an instant decision made by one of his sergeants in the heat of the battle. >> oh, yeah, serious gun fight going on, the second person on the team, one of my sergeants, he pulled up, and he immediately gets at least one shot right through his windshield. so he is under fire, as soon as he shows up. >> reporter: as the two gunmen open fire as bullets whiz past police officers as bombs are flying, the sergeant decides to abandon the suv and use it as a weapon. >> you don't plan for this, train for this. he has the -- you don't know how to describe it the courage and determination to keep fighting and decides to put the car in gear, because of his car is taking the fire. shooting right at him in that car. >> as that police suv was just rolling down the street with nobody in it, the suspects kept firing, thinking the officer was

inside. he was actually escaping. >> so they think he is still in the car, so they are unloading on the car while he is able to take up a position to decide, and start returning fire. >> the suv eventually towed away is riddled with bullets, the sergeant may have saved his comrade's lives is a little concerned about how bad it's beaten up. >> at the end he said to my captain, i hope the chief is not mad at me, the cruiser is a little bit damaged. are you kidding me? they are going to be writing about you in the textbooks, that was brilliant under very difficult situation to be able to think that through and be able to do that. >> reporter: drew griffin, cnn, watertown, massachusetts. >> quick thinking, the most amazing thing that has gone on in the last nine days. happening later today, a memorial. at noon vice president joe biden will attend a service for sean

collier, the m.i.t. officer killed during the manhunt for the suspects. later on this afternoon, the house intelligence committee will receive a full briefing on the terror attack. we'll try to learn as much as we can from that. christine romans with more on the day's other top news. a court hearing in canada on the alleged terrorist plot to attack a passenger train running between new york and toronto. canadian authorities say al qaeda is behind the plot. one of the suspects is due in court in a couple of hours. the other suspect had his hearing yesterday. andrea jones vitirez is suing the owner of the plant for millions. she lived in an apartment complex that was destroyed. the blast killed 14 people, injured 200, and destroyed at least 75 homes. a homeowner in san berardino, california, forced out because of a landslide.

a broken water line beneath the house saturated the hill side, causing the dirt to slide to the bottom of the held. kabc-tv said that the slide is 40 feet wide, 10 feet deep, leaving the home in danger of collapsing. rand paul issued a statement, saying his stance on drones hasn't changed, but they should be considered an extraordinary lethal situation. paul has been taking heat for comments he made concerning the manhunt for the marathon bombing suspects. here is what he told fox business network. we shouldn't be willy-nilly. but if there is a killer on the loose in a neighborhood, i'm not against drones being used to search them out, heat seeking devices being used. he added "if someone comes out of a lick correspond store with a weapon and $50 in cash, i don't care if a drone kills him or a policeman kills him." earlier, he argued against drones in a 13-hour filibuster. and david petraeus has been

named the next visiting professor at city university of new york. one-year position begins in august. he will lead seminars, give talks, meet with students to discuss research projects. the former direct for was approached by many schools and chose this one for diversity, location and class offerings. alex has been openly gay since high school and now the former college kicker wants a shot at the nfl. he blew his chance with a disappointing senior season at middle tennessee state. the nfl job is a long shot but he's determined to give it his best. rising floodwaters force thousands from their homes in st. louis. it's expected to get worse. acne medicine from the wintergreen leaf treats breakouts. no parabens or harsh sulfates. for naturally clear skin. [ female announcer ] neutrogena® naturals.

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welcome back to "starting point." march durable goods fell 5.7%. that is bigger than expected and durable goods are long lasting things like airplanes, cars, refrigerateors, things built to last longer than three years. so it's a sign of people's confidence in the economy. solid earnings for boeing and those shares are up in the premarket. boeing didn't give a cause for all of the problems related to

the 787 dreamliner. battery issues earlier this year caused several emergency landings. feeling the economic recovery? new data suggests it's good for the rich and not so good for the rest. the recovery in the first two years after the recession, the wealthiest 7% of households saw mean household wealth down 28%, investments like stocks is the main reason for the jump. the housing market is flat which hurt everybody else. the lower 93%, their mean household net worth fell 4% to an average of $133,000. developing overnight, severe flooding turning deadly in the middle of the country. swollen rivers blamed for the four deaths. and a state of emergency in missouri. flash flooding swamping part of his state. jim spellman live in st. louis. >> reporter: good morning, christine. it does not feel like spring in

st. louis. cold, blustery windy morning. there is a boat docked in here. none of this usually underwater. about five feet above flood levels at this point. could have gone another four feet. that was the projection last week. the refer is cresting in st. louis. it will crest in other parts of the country. they feel guardedly optimistic they won't see widespread damage here. in fargo, north dakota, the story is warm spring temperatures melting snow. getting the sandbags out and getting ready for flooding up there in fargo as you mentioned. four people dead so far from this flooding, a fifth person missing up near peru, illinois. she was last seen on friday. in aerial photographs stuck, surrounded by water near her vehicle. they hope they can get to restart their searching once this weather clears up a little bit. this is a story all throughout the upper midwest down to the south, christine. >> all right, jim spell blank,

live this morning. thanks, jim. still ahead, boylston street opening up. live in boston after the break. [ heart beating, monitor beeping ] woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year.

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welcome back. new details about what may have been the motivation behind the boston marathon bombings, as boylston street site of the explosions, open to the public once again. workers spent the night scrubbing and cementing getting things back to normal, a new normal i guess. a really touching scene behind you as miguel marquez joins us. >> reporter: this is the memorial. everything along boylston, which was closed for so long, all brought here to copley square. look at the shoes here. people literally giving the shoes off their feet to the victims. memory of the victims. one thing over here real quickly if i could. very, very sweet, on a park bench here, it's a square, a baseball in memory of martin for martin richard, the 8-year-old who died age two, below it a

band believe in boston. we're seeing that video that we shot overnight of the street, boyleston street, the site of the first bombing. replacing bricks, comment, and on the window of the shop there, boston strong, which is a very touching thing to see all over the city right now. the other thing that we are learning is more from the hospital bed of the younger tsavraev brother who survived. he is telling investigators that it was iraq and afghanistan that fueled their anger, that they had no communications, no radicalization from outside the country, and it was videos from the like of anwar al awlaki, the american cleric killed by u.s. drone strike in yemen last year, where the group got a lot of their u.s. is tenace from, and it -- this was very much a -- a

self-radicalized situation they are saying, whether or not that can be believed is something investigators are checking out and trying to figure out. also the case that he may be moved from beth israel hospital. the victims, families, friends, have complained now that he's being held in the same place as they are being treated. so doctors are trying to work with law enforcement to figure out how soon they can move him out, which may happen in the days ahead. back to you. >> miguel, what are folks telling you about coming to the scene, walking around copley square, going to boylston street? are they trying to have closure, remember the victims? what are people thinking this morning? >> reporter: a little bit of everything. a lot of business, people just going up and down boylston, nice to see traffic up and down it again. a lot of folks saying it's nice to get back to normal. the trains are running again, the -- the stops are open, traffic running, get up and down

the street, get across the city as well very easily. and coming here, it's just -- you know, a lot of hugs, smiles and a lot of people gathering and reflecting. >> all right, miguel marquez, thank you so much. with the city on lockdown and marathon bombing suspects still at large, a boston police officer showed a really mean to protect and serve. delivered milk to a watertown family that desperately needed it for their 17-month-old son. the family snapped this picture of the officer and posted it on facebook. it has gone viral. shared 10,000 times. "starting point" back in a moment. (annoucer) new beneful medley's, in tuscan, romana, and mediterranean style varieties. ♪ just mix it in, and take play to new places.

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